David and Ciara Dierking medical expenses

update 2/26: As of today, the total giving including Go Fund Me, Venmo, Personal Checks etc has passed $200k. We are so thankful for each and every one of you that has helped David and Ciara in this way. We still do not have an accurate handle on what the overall cost will be for her hospital stay, plane ride for Ciara, ongoing therapy, home and vehicle modifications, and prosthetics, but will give details as we are able. In addition, David is working 24 hours a week, logging in at the hospital as he is able to in the middle of caring for his wife and medical details, as that amount of hours is necessary to keep his health benefits. So your gifts are helping meet this loss of income also! We deeply appreciate each and every one of you for caring for David and Ciara!

Update: 1/24 When I first started this go fund me the first week that Ciara and Colton became sick, I was unsure of how much to set the goal at, as there was no way to know the need. The only thing we knew for sure is that 18k would be needed just to meet his out of pocket max for both 2023 and 2024 if EVERYTHING was covered by insurance. We are so grateful that this need was met and that the giving has even exceeded that amount.

When I first mentioned setting up a GoFundMe to David at the start of this journey, he mentioned that he doesn’t want the goal set to more than is needed to get the care that Ciara and Colton need, and to keep that goal realistic. At that point, there was no way of knowing what that final bill would look like. As time has gone on and after discussing with different people, we are becoming more aware that there will most likely be many ancillary items and consultations that insurance will not cover.

What has significantly changed the situation, as most of you know, is that both of Ciara’s arms and legs have to be amputated. After leaving the hospital, there will be rehab considerations as well as prosthetics. Other costs to consider down the road would be a vehicle to fit Ciara’s needs, as well as home modifications needed. David will also soon run out of PTO days at some point. He has been working hard to stretch his allotted days off by logging in for a few hours a day. But there will be many needs and appointments this year that will pull him away from work, which will require taking unpaid time off.

I honestly have no idea what a realistic number is of what the need will be. But here are two cases that are identical to Ciara that happened in the last few months, and the goal that was needed in those cases. Based on those cases, I have set the goal at $250k. David will be tracking all expenses, and anything donated that is not actually needed for their care, will be paid forward to someone else in need.

https://julieroys.com/kentucky-mom-at-peace-following-double-leg-amputation/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/09/14/teens-hands-legs-amputated-after-getting-rare-bacterial-infection-mathias-uribe-tennessee/70849861007/

David is the hardest worker I know…. He will do everything in his power to provide for his family, as he always has. If any would like to come alongside and share that burden, we want to continue to be as transparent as we can be about the need. As we have more specific details as to exact costs, we will share those. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, and prayed for my brother and his family.

**At the end of this post below, I am posting a recap of their journey for those that are not up to date.**

Ciara, David, and their two boys drove up to PA to be with his family for Christmas. Colton became sick and started to have severe pain in his neck. On Tuesday, December 26, Ciara took him to urgent care and then he was sent to the emergency room at Lancaster General. After some testing they found that he had coronavirus and strep. They also found two abscesses of infection in his neck.

When David came to join them in the emergency room, Ciara went back to the house to lie down as she was feeling ill. Two days later, December 28, David's mom drove her to the emergency room. It was discussed whether she should go to urgent care or to the emergency room. The choice to go straight to the emergency room saved her life.

David had been staying in the room with Colton. As soon as he heard Ciara was in the emergency room, he came down to see her. She already had a room full of doctors and nurses and was hooked up to breathing machines. David was told she is a 10 out of 10 sick and that it was very very serious. She was immediately sent up to the ICU. It wasn't until one of the doctors was talking to David upstairs and said, "I trust by now you have read between the lines" and he saw that there was a chaplain in the room that he finally comprehended just how serious it was.

Ciara ended up having influenza b, group a strep, sever pneumonia. Toxins got into her blood stream which sent her into toxic shock (sepsis). The doctors quickly realized where things were heading, so they decided to put her on ecmo (life support), which completely took over the heart and lung functions for her. Her organs ended up shutting down. This was a very traumatic experience. At one point, we were told there was a very high mortality rate for someone in this state. At this point most of Ciara's and David's family had traveled to be with them. The conference room was full of heartbroken people. We prayed and wept. In groups of two we went into Ciara's room and essentially said our goodbyes. A little later, one of the staff came and got David and Ciara's mom and said they were needed in the room immediately. As soon as they got to the room they could hear the defibrillator being used. Her heart had stopped beating and they tried shocking her heart to get it beating again. However, they were not successful. Thankfully they had already put her on ecmo, meaning, they could still keep her alive even with her heart not beating. It would just be a waiting game until her heart could start to heal.

The next day, it was decided that it would be best to transfer Colton from Lancaster General, where both he and Ciara were, to the Hershey children's hospital. The reasoning behind this is that hospital has an ICU specifically for children. We were told that they may end up treating Colton the exact same way that he was being treated at Lancaster General, but due to Ciara's condition, they didn't want to take any chances, should things worsen for Colton and there be a need for the ICU. At Hershey, he would have access to more specialized care.

After some further scans, it was determined that Colton had two abscesses of infection in his neck. He ended up having two surgeries to drain the fluid. For the first surgery they were able to access the abscess through his mouth. The second surgery required interventional radiology, as it was in a harder to reach spot (top of the spine next to the skull). The day after the second one was drained, it was a night and day difference in Colton's mood. He was laughing, moving around, playing. Inflammation from the abscess pushed one of his vertebrae over, which is the cause of his needing to wear the neck brace. We were told he'd need to have that on for 4-6 weeks. He has a follow up appt. on Feb 6, and hopefully things will look positive and he can have it removed!

Ciara's fight has been an ongoing one. There have been so many ups and downs. Due to how bad her toxic shock was, she had to be place on very high levels of blood pressure medicine. These meds narrow the blood vessels in order to increase pressure. We were told from the very beginning that her extremities would be at risk, due to lack of blood flow and oxygen, and that she would most likely lose them. But that was a sacrifice that had to be made in order to save her life. We were obviously most concerned about life. We rejoice that she is still alive. Without these meds, the ecmo machine, dialysis, the doctors, nurses, and prayers of so many, Ciara would not be with us today. We had been told many times, that Ciara was on as much support as is possible. There is nothing further medically speaking that is available. Beyond that, we would have to pray for a miracle.

Each day we have seen small steps of progress. And we rejoice in that. We have also seen dry gangrene take over her arms and legs. As mentioned before, we've known that amputation was most likely on the table. But since it didn't impose any risk on her life, there was no reason to rush to amputation. The goal has been to give it enough time to get a clear mark of what would still be viable and what had died and would need to be removed. Any sign of wet gangrene however, would speed up the need to amputate, which is what ended up happening with the legs. Allowing an infection like that to continue, would put her life at risk. At the moment, we don't see signs of infection in her arms, however the need for amputation is very clear. They are currently working on scheduling for that. **currently scheduled for tomorrow at 3 pm** Will most like take place later this week or early next week.

The doctors, nurses, and staff at Lancaster General have been amazing. They have put Ciara in a room that has a private nook in the back with a desk. There are only 2 rooms in the unit like this, and they moved her to one of those rooms so David could continue to log in some remote hours for work. Staff has been in to pray with Ciara, talk to her, listen to music with her, and have written her cards. This morning, they put on spa music and shampooed and braided her hair. We've had nurses on her care that are excellent at lip reading and communicating with her. The doctors take as long as we need to talk with them and answer questions. We've never felt rushed. We've been stopped in the cafeteria by staff we've never met before asking how Ciara is doing and how we are doing. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

Please continue to pray. This truly has been an hour by hour journey. We need God's strength and comfort to continue through this battle. Thank you so much!